Young adult cancer survivors sought for peer-led support group

Young adult cancer survivors are being sought to provide input for a new peer-led support group, Young at Heart, created by the United Cancer Advocacy Action Network.

The focus group will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at 1459 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Suite E, in Thousand Oaks.

"We'd like to hear what topics they'd want to discuss and ultimately what they want to get out of such a group," said Rachel Shur of Thousand Oaks, founder of the United Cancer Advocacy Action Network.

Shur's father died of melanoma when she was a child.

"Then I was diagnosed with cancer — acute promyelocytic leukemia — in December of 2006 and was given a 10 percent chance of survival," she said.

When it comes to young adults like her with cancer, Shur, 31, said the biggest problem is isolation.

"Support groups are great, but many of them have an older crowd, and their challenges in life are very different to those of a young adult," she said.

"We're focused on ... what we want to be when we grow up and what we want out of life, while the older groups talk about retiring, grandchildren and trips. The focus needs to be about living our lives after cancer."

The support group "will be an awesome tool to let emotions come out with people who have been through what you have been," said Henry Ramos, 27, of Oxnard. "It is hard for me to talk to people who have no idea. When someone understands me because they have been there, it helps me feel better and inspired that everything will be OK."

Ramos learned he had cancer a month after his 26th birthday. He was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia that was "considered extremely dangerous and late in the stage."

In the peer-led support group, "I won't be embarrassed about anything. Even crying or talking about erectile dysfunction or loss of libido due to the treatment," he said. "It motivates and energizes me to talk to someone who relates. I like the idea that it is peer-led by a survivor and not someone who is licensed and getting paid who did not have cancer."

Shur said she hopes the group will grow and eventually have an option to split into two groups — one for married cancer survivors and one for single ones.

The ultimate goal is "to offer young adults with cancer the support that they need and the ability to let loose and talk about how the cancer affected their lives," Shur said. "We're hoping that it's therapeutic and helpful to survivors and that it can help reduce their stress."

Reservations are required. Call Rachel Shur at 479-1032. For more information visit http://www.ucaan.org.